Grace Hatchell’s July Dispatch: Pumpkin Season Already?!
Now hold onto your paper crowns and pass me a Quality Street, because apparently it’s July and we’re already talking pantomimes. I haven’t even defrosted the pigs in blankets from last year, and Hackney Empire’s already slapping on the sequins for Cinderella. Oh yes they are. 🙄
That’s right, darlings – Hackney Empire has just officially announced that the 2025 panto will be none other than Cinderella, running from 22 November to 31 December. Directed by the fabulous Clive Rowe – yes, him again, the man can probably call cues in his sleep at this point – we’re promised a magical trip to the ball, glass slippers included, and hopefully no one turning into a pumpkin on Mare Street.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Grace, surely it’s too early for festive cheer?” And to that I say: tell that to the team who’ve already locked in two cracking Ugly Sisters! Enter Kat B, Hackney royalty and all-round stage legend (he’s done so many Hackney pantos I reckon he’s got a dressing room named after him), and George Heyworth – the deliciously sharp half of Bourgeois & Maurice, back again after causing mayhem in Aladdin last year. I mean, these two as the Ugly Sisters? The audience hasn’t got a chance. There’ll be more sass in that ballroom than at a RuPaul reunion.
We’re promised the usual panto delights – outrageous costumes, toe-tapping tunes, audience yelling (“He’s behind you!” etc.), and just enough innuendo to keep the grown-ups chuckling while the kids go hyper on Haribo. You know the drill. It’s Hackney. It’s chaos. It’s Christmas.
And if that wasn’t enough to tug at your festive feels, Executive Director Jo Hemmant has revealed this will be her final panto in the role. A proper curtain call moment if ever I heard one. Jo, love – you’ve given Hackney more sparkle than a Lidl snow globe, and this cast is clearly your parting gift.
So, whether you’re Team Ballroom or Team Boo-the-Villain, mark your diaries. Cinderella’s getting her coach ready, Kat B’s warming up his vocal cords, and George is probably already sewing rhinestones onto his eyebrows.
Just don’t blame me when you find yourself humming panto tunes in August. They start early, and they haunt you till Easter.
With glittery love and mild seasonal confusion,
Grace Hatchell
Theatre’s cheekiest courier, still wearing sunglasses and being forced to talk about snow. 🎭📮
https://www.hackneyempire.co.uk
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